BY SAM ALFAN.
The Anti-Corruption Court in Nairobi has directed that the case in which Nairobi County official Dennis Paul Manoti is charged with corruptly soliciting Sh6.5million bribe from the owner of retail chain Taj Mall be heard on July 24. a case in which a senior rates officer at Nairobi county government is charged with corruptly soliciting for Sh 6.5 million bribe from Taj mall owner to be heard on July 24 without delay.
The case had been fixed for hearing for today before Milimani Principal Magistrate Felix Kombo but defence lawyer Evans Ondieki applied for
adjournment, saying they have filed an application in the High Court seeking to terminate the graft case. He claimed the prosecution had no furnished him with all statements by prospective witnesses to assist him prepare for the hearing.
Kombo rejected Ondieki’s request to have the trial postponed after the August 8 General Election and ruled that the case should be heard and concluded expeditiously.
Manoti, who is a deputy accountant at Nairobi County Government Rates Department, has denied three counts of corruptly soliciting Sh 6.5
million bribe from Taj Mall owner, Ramesh Chandra Govin. He is out on Sh250,000 cash bail.
The charges against the accused person states allege that on November 28, last year, at City Hall, he corruptly solicited Sh 6 million bribe from Govin so as to facilitate transfer changes on LR number 20273 from Sigma Ltd to Taj Mall Ltd. He is also accused demanding another Sh 500,000 so as to facilitate transfer changes on the same property.
Manoti is further accused of corruptly receiving Sh 100,000 from another complainant, Peter Kebaso, so as to transfer changes on the same property.
It is said that Govin had hired a private land investigator to probe what was happening at City Hall’s rates office, after he was denied
statements for a 4.2 acre piece of land he owns on Old Mombasa Road Where Taj Mall stands. According to the prosecution, the businessman has reportedly been paying land rates since he bought the property in 2009.
